News

ADEL SWITCH AGREED

Posted on 8 June 2007
- 12:00

The Club is delighted to announce that agreement has been reached with Lens for the loan of Adel Taarabt to be made into a permanent transfer.

The Club is delighted to announce that agreement has been reached with Lens for the loan of Adel Taarabt to be made into a permanent transfer.The attacking midfielder, who has represented France at U-16, U-17 and U-18 level arrived in January from the Ligue 1 club and proceeded to make a big impression in our Reserve team, where he made a total of six appearances for Clive Allen's side.

He was rewarded with a place in the first team squad on a number of occasions, making the substitutes bench seven times. Adel sampled Premiership football for the first time in the memorable encounter with West Ham in early March when he was introduced to the game with the team 3-2 down.

He made an impact on the game, winning the free-kick that led to Dimitar Berbatov levelling the score before Paul Stalteri's late winner. A further substitute appearance followed at Chelsea in April.

"I didn't expect Adel to break into the First Team group so early," admitted Sporting Director Damien Comolli. "We told him the first six months were for him to settle down and then we would take it from there.

"After just a short time he came on against West Ham and changed the game before getting another chance at Chelsea. We were a little bit surprised it happened so quickly for him, but we also know his talent is unbelievable.

"Physically he has become a lot stronger and fitter since joining and he needs to remain on that path. We are very happy he will be committing his future to us in making this move permanent.”